‘Ennis sustained a shoulder injury and did not shoot while he was out there. I was thinking that would pretty much eliminate playing Monday. Ennis said, “I’ll see what tomorrow brings, but I wanted to get out there and feel the ice, skate around and work on some skills.”’

‘Outside of his drive and willingness to learn and buy into what it takes to be an NHL player, Ristolainen’s raw tools are on par with many of the NHL’s elite defensemen. The most used comparison of what he could be is Tampa Bay’s Victor Hedman, who has become one of the top all-around D-men in the league.’

‘“We had a video session here today to talk about some of the things we did last night. I think that was one of the most chances per games that we played almost all season long,” Sabres coach Ted Nolan said.’

‘Even short losing streaks can turn the jolliest of coaches into snarling souls. Imagine, then, what Tippett and Buffalo’s Ted Nolan are going through with the two worst teams in the NHL. “It’s just miserable,” Tippett said. “Miserable. You never want to be in this situation.”’

‘It goes against the integrity of the game, but it’s hard to blame a team for give up a meaningless victory to improve its draft status. And it’s hard to blame fans, such as the ones in Buffalo, for occasionally rooting for their team to lose.’

‘Tim Murray, general manager of the Buffalo Sabres, a self-described “glass-half-empty guy” not given to giddy appraisals, said he has not seen a better junior player. “I watch him too much and I think too much about him,” said Murray, who has been scouting teenage N.H.L. prospects for 23 seasons. “I wish I could help myself.”’

‘”We didn’t start the way we wanted to and caught us a little flat-footed,” Buffalo coach Ted Nolan said. “They have high-end skill guys on their team. We had a bad line change on the first goal, the second goal we had three guys behind the goal line.”‘

‘Lindback stopped 10 out of 12 shots in the opening period, but was replaced by Matt Hackett to start the second. Hackett surrendered goals on the first two shots he faced, upping Colorado’s lead to 4-0. Taking a nice backhand pass from Ryan O’Reilly, Tyson Barrie walked in and lifted the puck over Hackett’s glove for the third goal of the evening. Matt Duchene added his 19th about 90 seconds later, a hard wrist shot from the slot that sailed into the top corner of the net. From that point on, Colorado would manage only eight more shots on Hackett for the rest of the game, leading to a Sabres rally in the third.’